Back on the Montgomery Canal

VOLUNTEERS of the Waterway Recovery Group will be returning again to the Montgomery Canal to continue the next stage of restoration with four weekly work camps.

These start on the 6th August, with the volunteers working between bridges 84 and 85, to restore the canal to Crickheath Wharf, a length they cleared last year. The photograph shows former work being done at the wharf.

Started in 1969

The Waterway Recovery Group first worked on the Montgomery Canal when restoration started in Welshpool 1969. Then they helped with the restoration of the Prince of Wales' length North of Welshpool, and at Frankton locks and at Aston locks and nature reserve. More recently they have been working at Crickheath.

A spokesman for the Waterways Recovery Group explains:

"Though the group has many years experience and works on canal restorations all over the country, they are volunteers, and any design they use has to be fairly straightforward, and as they have to raise their own funds they want to do the work at the lowest possible cost consistent with a thorough job.

"They would too like the solution to be as ecologically friendly as possible, including trying to minimise the 'transport miles' for materials. The canal was originally built from local materials and, as far as they can, the volunteers want to do the same today."

Watertight

This year and next the Waterway Recovery Group volunteers will be working to make the canal watertight. This is not easy as the ground is very peaty and tends to move up and down with the seasons, so the volunteers will be laying flexible watertight liner.

The volunteers, we are told, will be keen to retain the original appearance of the canal. Part of the charm of the Montgomery is its rural appearance, with shallow sides sloping to a deeper section in the middle, with soft banks lined with vegetation offering a good habitat for wildlife.

Huge amount of restoration

Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust Chairman Michael Limbrey announced:

"We are pleased that the Waterway Recovery Group is coming back to the Montgomery Canal this year. The volunteers of Waterway Recovery Group and Shropshire Union Canal Society have achieved a huge amount in the restoration over many years and, in these times when funding is difficult, their work to continue restoration is especially important."